If somebody asked how to classify the style of Thundercat’s
music - it would be nearly impossible to answer. He is known for being one of
the most eclectic musicians on the scene today and is constantly working on
multiple projects with artists from all different genres. The best way to
define his music would be to say that it cannot be contained within one style.
It has a multitude of elements and influences - this is exactly why he is sought
out by so many different artists.

Recently, Thundercat began to branch out on his own into the
role of a front man in addition to continuing with his collaborative projects. He
has released two albums in the past two years, which showcase the abundance of influences he has in his life. Oh So Fresh! Music got the
opportunity to sit down with him and discuss all of the different avenues he’s
pursued and how he has come to be where he is now is his career.

I understand that you’ve always been a huge fan of the
cartoon, The Thundercats, but I heard a rumor that Erykah Badu had something to
do with you getting the name Thundercat. Is that true?

Yeah, absolutely. When
I first met Erykah, I was a teenager. Just kind of the same. I’m not a teenager
now, but I just always have Thundercat T-shirts on or something. I mean it’s
tattooed on my hand. It was just more like one of those things where it didn’t
become something more than what it was until she recognized me as Thundercat.
It kind of put a stamp on it, so to speak. Being in Sa-Ra, they would call me
Thundercat, but it was kind of like a fallout name. Like ‘Oh who’s that?’ ‘Oh
yeah that’s Thundercat.’ It’s like calling me “Silent Bob” or something. ‘Why
do they call you Silent Bob?’ ‘Because he’s always silent.’ ‘Why do they call
you Thundercat?’ ‘Because you’re always wearing a Thundercat shirt.’ That kind
of thing.

You are very well known for being an extremely eclectic
musician and not sticking with one style of music. Can you tell us what you
enjoy most about each genre? Do the different styles of music allow you to tap
into different emotions?

Yeah, absolutely they
do. I feel like there’s a common thread in the music, period. One thing my good
friend, Austin Peralta, would always say is ‘there’s only good music and bad
music, and it’s for you do decide what’s good and bad for you.’ You can find
something you like in almost anything. Throughout the different genres of music
I just find the things that I like. Music is so big, it’s like an ocean.
There’s so many different places to explore. I don’t have a specific thing that
I like about the different genres. I find things that I like that I hear and I
just try to go for it.

You definitely have a talent with blending different genres
of music. Are there any two styles that you don’t think should ever mix or do
you think everything can work together?

I think everything can
work. You never know where things come from with people. You never know how a
person is raised and what they hear. So I think anything can be blended. That’s
what makes music a big sea.

When you write your music, would you say it’s more
influenced by reflecting on past experiences or more of an imaginative look
into the future?

I can only write about
what I experience. But at the same time, you never know where you’re going. But
that’s kind of true, all you have is your experience and then you die. Unless
you have kids. Then you have to try to help them through experiencing what you
experienced and stuff like that, and that’s about it. But all you have is your
own experience.

After you finish a track, do you ever imagine ‘Yeah, that
would sound good in, lets say, Grand Theft Auto’?

No, not really. I’ve
been trying to keep the way I make music very simple because as things progress
they become a little weirder because of what people expect nowadays. I try to
make music that speaks to me. Music is always flowing so I just try to grab
little things here and there. It all changes as you get older too. Tastes
change and things that influence you change.

Pulling bits and pieces seems to be more of what people want
to hear. Why do you think less conventional music is becoming so popular?

I think it has to do
more so with where the genuineness of something is coming from. Because you
don’t always know where something is coming from, that’s the beauty of it.
That’s where the sincerity is now, whereas before there were these direct shots
into things and sounds that people can readily identify. Be it punk rock, or
hip hop, or something that had to have a coining thing to it. It was like under this umbrella, this is what this is. But now, look at how technology is
integrated. There are no lines. You can see what you want to see. With that, I
think that music has advanced too. It has evolved and grown, and people want to
hear different things as they mature and grow. You develop different taste
buds. You develop different sensibility. There are things that speak to people
in different points in time. If that’s what people want to hear now, that’s
cool.

Throughout your career you have done a lot of work
collaborating with other artists. You started out in No Curfew, then Suicidal
Tendencies. You’ve worked with Erykah Badu, Sa-Ra, Flying Lotus, and Snoop Dogg
to name a few. But in these past few years, you seem to have become more
comfortable as a front man. Was there a certain moment when you just decided it
was time or was it more of a gradual process?

A bit of both. It
happened around the time that me and Lotus started working on Cosmogramma. It
was kind of like an afterthought. He was like ‘Oh man, maybe we could do an
album. Maybe you should do an album.’ I was like ‘Oh okay.’ I didn’t really
know what that entailed. I had never put my own album out. I didn’t necessarily
try to use it as a launch pad. It wasn’t like that. It more so just came
naturally and I was just trying to keep up. I thought ‘I am doing mostly my
stuff now, and it’s really different.’ I wasn’t used to being the guy where
everybody is looking at me like, ‘What are we doing?’ I’m just growing and
getting used to it. It’s fun and it’s different. In my two
thousand-and-whatever years of playing bass it’s a different thing. Even so
much as having to tell people ‘no’. It’s pretty interesting.

Would you agree that the creativity behind the production of
an album is different from the creativity of performing on stage?

Yeah, two completely
different elements.

Which do you prefer and which one do you feel is your strong
suit?

I don’t really prefer
one over the other. I love ‘em both. I feel like they’re two parts to a bigger
story that just start there. That’s the seed that gets planted and I think that
there can’t be one without the other. Or it can be, but it would be really
one-dimensional. It just so happens that I’ve been performing on stage for my
whole life and because I’ve been doing that it feels almost seamless that now
I’m doing my own stuff. And when it comes to the studio, I feel like there’s a
magic that happens there that’s not necessarily different from the stage, but
at the same time it’s a different environment. You kind of get a chance to go
inside yourself a little more. But I definitely think that they work together
so I don’t see one as more important than the other. Performing live will put
food on your table. That’s one thing performing live will do.

What was one of the biggest differences between touring with
Suicidal Tendencies compared to touring with Snoop Dogg?

There’s a whole
plethora of differences. They’re both kind of pillars of L.A. music in their
own right. One essential difference is that Snoop Dogg is not a band. Snoop
Dogg is an amazing artist, but Suicidal is a band. It’s a different forefront.
It’s a whole different plateau and place for you to display your ability.
They’re both old school Crips.

Do have any future projects lined up that you can talk
about?

I’m working on some
more stuff. Me and Lotus have been working on lots of different stuff. I’m
doing a bit of collaborative work with Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller just to name
a couple cats. Just staying busy. I’ve been doing a lot of work with Kimbra.
It’s kind of all over the place.

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